Plate tectonic evolution of the southern margin of Eurasia in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic

Thirteen time interval maps were constructed, which depict the Triassic to Neogene plate tectonic configuration, paleogeography and general lithofacies of the southern margin of Eurasia. The aim of this paper is to provide an outline of the geodynamic evolution and position of the major tectonic elements of the area within a global framework. The Hercynian Orogeny was completed by the collision of Gondwana and Laurussia, whereas the Tethys Ocean formed the embayment between the Eurasian and Gondwanian branches of Pangea. During Late Triassic–Early Jurassic times, several microplates were sutured to the Eurasian margin, closing the Paleotethys Ocean. A Jurassic–Cretaceous north-dipping subduction boundary was developed along this new continental margin south of the Pontides, Transcaucasus and Iranian plates. The subduction zone trench-pulling effect caused rifting, creating the back-arc basin of the Greater Caucasus–proto South Caspian Sea, which achieved its maximum width during the Late Cretaceous. In the western Tethys, separation of Eurasia from Gondwana resulted in the formation of the Ligurian–Penninic–Pieniny–Magura Ocean (Alpine Tethys) as an extension of Middle Atlantic system and a part of the Pangean breakup tectonic system. During Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous times, the Outer Carpathian rift developed. The opening of the western Black Sea occurred by rifting and drifting of the western–central Pontides away from the Moesian and Scythian platforms of Eurasia during the Early Cretaceous–Cenomanian. The latest Cretaceous–Paleogene was the time of the closure of the Ligurian–Pieniny Ocean. Adria–Alcapa terranes continued their northward movement during Eocene–Early Miocene times. Their oblique collision with the North European plate led to the development of the accretionary wedge of the Outer Carpathians and its foreland basin. The formation of the West Carpathian thrusts was completed by the Miocene. The thrust front was still propagating eastwards in the eastern Carpathians.During the Late Cretaceous, the Lesser Caucasus, Sanandaj–Sirjan and Makran plates were sutured to the Iranian–Afghanistan plates in the Caucasus–Caspian Sea area. A north-dipping subduction zone jumped during Paleogene to the Scythian–Turan Platform. The Shatski terrane moved northward, closing the Greater Caucasus Basin and opening the eastern Black Sea. The South Caspian underwent reorganization during Oligocene–Neogene times. The southwestern part of the South Caspian Basin was reopened, while the northwestern part was gradually reduced in size. The collision of India and the Lut plate with Eurasia caused the deformation of Central Asia and created a system of NW–SE wrench faults. The remnants of Jurassic–Cretaceous back-arc systems, oceanic and attenuated crust, as well as Tertiary oceanic and attenuated crust were locked between adjacent continental plates and orogenic systems.     

Evidence of Late Pleistocene ice-dammed lakes in West Siberia

The article discusses geological data on proglacial lakes and spillways in the West Siberian Plain, data on crucial features of the Late Pleistocene reorganization of the drainage pattern of northern Eurasia. The discussion focuses on Late Pleistocene sediments along the margin of the last ice sheet and south of it, including new data recently obtained by the Russian-Norwegian project PECHORA in Trans-Uralia. Based on these data, the margin of the last ice sheet in the western and central parts of West Siberia is localized well above the Arctic Circle, i.e. 150-250 km north of the previously suggested ice limit. The available geochronological evidence indicates that the last ice dam across West Siberia, which diverted the great Siberian rivers to the south, appeared at early stages of the last, Weichselian ice age. The normal, northbound, drainage was restored later, within the time-span accessible to radiocarbon dating, when two pre-Holocene river terraces with mammal fauna were formed. The Late Weichselian was the driest period with ubiquitous aeolian activity and an absence of large water bodies. Preceding ice-dammed lakes of West Siberia could only drain through the Turgai valley which leads southward into the Aral and Caspian seas. The sedimentary sequence of this passage consists of lacustrine clay, diamictic gravity flows and aeolian sediments younger than 29 kyr which infilled the former spillway mainly in the Late Weichselian. The basal sand and gravel mantling the bedrock floor, which descends from 55 m a.s.l. at 55°N to 30-40 m a.s.l. in the south, is the only signature of a southward drainage. This fluvial episode probably reflects overflow of a Siberian proglacial lake whose water level could reach 60 m a.s.l. prior to 29 kyr BP.     

The Paleocene and Eocene in the Russian part of West Eurasia

Biostratigraphic charts of marine Paleocene and Eocene in the European and West Siberian parts of Russia include the unified zonations of nannoplankton, planktonic and benthic foraminifers, dinocysts, radiolarians, diatoms, and palynomorphs of higher plants. These regional zonations summarize comprehensive data on the Lower Paleogene, which have been obtained by paleontologists and biostratigraphers in the last century. In the content and resolution degree, they represent a solid basis for geological and paleogeographic consideration and characterize the time succession of diverse biotic and abiotic events. On the other hand, the depicted biotic events have been controlled by successive tectonic, paleogeographic, and paleoclimatic events, because organisms determining contents of biostratigraphic zones changed not only in the course of evolution, but also in response to transformation of surroundings. As elements of general communication systems, epicontinental seas of the Paleogene have been interconnected via straits and seaways, which promoted interchange of water masses and biotas belonging to the Tethys, Atlantic or Arctic oceans, and inner seas. Size and configuration of the seas and seaways changed under influence of tectonic processes and eustatic events of epeirogenic or regional origin. Widening, narrowing, and cessation of communication ways have been responsible for different-scale changes in sedimentation and biotic environments. New materials on the Paleogene in a vast territory of Russian sector of West Eurasia offer an opportunity to revise somewhat the dynamics of climatic changes in the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Cenozoic, which characterize the terminal phase of transition from the warm to cold biosphere of the Earth.     

Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonics and geodynamics of Altai, Tien Shan, and Northern Kazakhstan, from apatite fission-track data

Apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronological modeling as a diagnostic tool for periods of stability (peneplanation) and tectonic activity (orogeny) has been broadly used in tectonic studies of Central Asia in recent years. We discuss more than 100 AFT ages of samples from the Kyrgyz Tien Shan and Altai and compare them with AFT data from northern Kazakhstan. Geological, geomorphological, and AFT data indicate intense activity in the Late Cenozoic Eurasian continental interior. The impact from the India-Eurasia collision on the northern Tien Shan, Altai, and northern Kazakhstan regions showed up at 11, 5, and 3 Ma, respectively, as a result of stress propagation into the continent, with the ensuing reactivation and mountain growth. We hypothesize that a distant effect of the Late Cenozoic India-Eurasia collision was to rejuvenate Paleozoic fault zones and to deform the Mesozoic sedimentary cover north of the collision front as far as the West Siberian Plate. The reactivation facilitated formation of tectonic oil and gas traps. The activity in northern Central Asia under the effect of the Indian indentation into Eurasia appears to continue and may evolve to include uplift of southern West Siberian plate with uplift.     

中国青藏高原特提斯的形成与演化

青藏高原的形成是特提斯演化的结果。本文根据区域大地构造演化和沉积学证据,将青藏高原特提斯在时间上划分为3个阶段,即早期、中期和晚期。早期从震旦纪开始至奥陶—志留纪结束,这个阶段的大洋我们称作"原特提斯"。中期从泥盆纪开始至石炭—二叠纪结束,通常称这个大洋为"古特提斯"。晚期从二叠纪末、三叠纪初开始一直延续到第三纪早期,这个阶段的大洋通常被称作"新特提斯"。在空间上,青藏高原特提斯可以划分为3个区域相,即北区、中区和南区。上述3个阶段完全可以与空间上的3个区域相对应,原特提斯主要发育于北区,大洋消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第5缝合带中,即西昆仑—阿尔金—北祁连缝合带。古特提斯主要发育于中区,大洋消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第3、4缝合带中,即金沙江缝合带和昆仑南缘缝合带。新特提斯主要发育于南区,大洋主洋盆消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第1缝合带中,即雅鲁藏布江缝合带,它的弧后盆地消亡后的遗迹残留在第2缝合带中,即班公湖—怒江缝合带。     

Geologic stages of the Paleogene and Neogene evolution of the Arctic shelf in the Ob’ region (West Siberia)

The paper is concerned with the structure of the Arctic shelf sediments in the Ob’ region in the Paleogene and Neogene, sampled from boreholes drilled on the Yamal Peninsula, in the lower reaches of the Pur and Taz Rivers. The specifics of Paleogene marine sedimentation in the central and northern West Siberian Plain are studied. The effect of abiotic (tectonic) factors on the completeness of the geologic record is considered as well as the effect of recent (Oligocene-Neogene) tectonic processes on topography and sedimentation. The borehole sections are compared with the main seismic sections of the Kara Sea and Lomonosov Ridge.     

中国青藏高原特提斯的形成与演化

青藏高原的形成是特提斯演化的结果。本文根据区域大地构造演化和沉积学证据,将青藏高原特提斯在时间上划分为3个阶段,即早期、中期和晚期。早期从震旦纪开始至奥陶-志留纪结束,这个阶段的大洋我们称作“原特提斯”。中期从泥盆纪开始至石炭-二叠纪结束,通常称这个大洋为“古特提斯”。晚期从二叠纪末、三叠纪初开始一直延续到第三纪早期,这个阶段的大洋通常被称作“新特提斯”。在空间上,青藏高原特提斯可以划分为3个区域相,即北区、中区和南区。上述3个阶段完全可以与空间上的3个区域相对应,原特提斯主要发育于北区,大洋消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第5缝合带中,即西昆仑-阿尔金-北祁连缝合带。古特提斯主要发育于中区,大洋消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第3、4缝合带中,即金沙江缝合带和昆仑南缘缝合带。新特提斯主要发育于南区,大洋主洋盆消亡后的遗迹残留在青藏高原第1缝合带中,即雅鲁藏布江缝合带,它的弧后盆地消亡后的遗迹残留在第2缝合带中,即班公湖-怒江缝合带。     

Flora development in Northeastern Asia and Northern Alaska during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transitional epoch

Study of floral succession from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary interval in Russian Far East (Zeya-Bureya depression), Northeastern Russia (Koryak Upland), and Northern Alaska (Sagavanirktok River basin) is crucial for better understanding palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic factors, which controlled events in vegetation evolution at that time. The succession of fossil floras in the Zeya-Bureya depression includes plant assemblages of the Santonian, Campanian, early Danian, Danian, and Danian-Selandian age. The early Danian Boguchan Flora keeps continuity in composition and dominating taxa with the Campanian Late Kundur Flora. The Koryak Flora of the Amaam Lagoon area (Northeastern Russia) is dated as late Maastrichtian based on correlation of plant-bearing beds with marine biostratigraphy, whereas the Early and Late Sagwon floras of Northern Alaska are dated back to the Danian-Selandian and early Paleocene based on palynological and macrofloristic data. The Early Sagwon Flora is most close to the late Maastrichtian Koryak Flora of the Amaam Lagoon area in composition and main dominants, while the Late Sagwon Flora is comparable with the Danian or Danian-(?) Selandian flora from the Upper Tsagayan Subformation of the Amur area. In a florogenic aspect, trans-Beringian plant migrations from northeastern Asia and southern palaeolatitudes of the Far East, which became possible due to Paleocene climate warming in Arctic, have played an important role in forming of the Paleocene floras of Northern Alaska. Floras of the Far East and high latitudes of Asia and North America show no evidence of catastrophic event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Their development was most probably controlled by climate changes, plant evolution and migration.     

海扇类（pectinoids）在侏罗纪原大西洋的古地理分布

海扇类（pectinoids (s.l)）是一类具浮游异养幼虫类型生态特征的表生双壳类。这种生态特征决定了其大部分组成分子具世界性分布。但是,在侏罗纪原大西洋地区海扇类中仍有不少属/亚属显示出地区性特征,其地理分布主要受纬度气候带控制,即显示出南北差异。这些地区性海扇贝类是认识侏罗纪生物地理分区的重要标志。主要分布于高纬度地区的北方型分子由Buchiidae、Pectinidae和Oxytomidae 3科的一些属/亚属组成,它们于中侏罗世晚期和晚侏罗世常见于格陵兰东部,往南止于英格兰南部,是北方生物区的重要代表。适于热带－亚热带的特提斯型分子分异度较高,组成分子来自Pectinidae,Spondylidae和Entoliidae 3科,主要分布于法国以南的较低纬度地区。但是,在特提斯海扩张时期,如侏罗纪巴通期,随着特提斯生物大区北界的北移,特提斯双壳类可散布至英格兰北部。     

南海的右行陆缘裂解成因

南海成果是西太平洋边缘海动力学研究的重要部分,也关系到特提期,环太平洋两大超级会聚带的相互作用,是国内外地学界长期研究的热点问题。西太平洋边缘海内带,尤其是日本海和南海在形成时代,海盆形态和海底地貌,海底扩张的多轴,多阶段,由东向西扩展特征,岩石圈地幔的地球化学异常等方面具有共同特征,可能在成因上也相似,南海的海盆的楔形的楔形形状,海底扩张及陆架盆地的断陷的由北向南发展和自东向西推进的特征,地壳伸展减薄和海底扩张程度的由东向西减弱都可用尖端向西的“剪刀模型”来描述,即南海的张开是近南北向右行剪切力作用下东亚陆缘发生裂解的结果。南海张开的同时在海盆内及其西缘印支半岛上发育大量近南北向右行走滑断裂,表明当时存在区域性的近南北向右行剪切应力,而在其东缘现在看不到大型近南北向右行走滑断裂,可能是在中中新世以后受从赤道附近近滑移北上并沿马尼拉海沟仰冲的菲律宾群岛所破坏的结果。晚中生代以来,在西太平洋构造域,特提斯构造域西段（印度）及东段（澳大利亚）先后发生了朝欧亚大陆的,不同方向和速度的会聚。在这三大作用的复合和竞争的动力学背景下,东亚陆缘发生了有地幔参加传动的“超级剪切”,其应力场经历了左行压扭体制和右行张扭体制交替的阶段性变化,正是在特提斯构造域西段的会聚起主导作用的阶段,东亚陆缘在右行张扭应力场作用下发生裂解,形成了南海和其他内带边缘海。     

The climate-forming role of Early Paleogene marine currents in high latitudes of Eurasia

Paleobotanical evidence for the climate-forming significance of marine currents in the Early Paleogene of the Arctic is reported. It is based on the analysis of mega- and microfossil plant assemblages derived from the outcrops located along the Arctic coastline of Eurasia and on the islands within the Arctic shelf. The occurrence of warm marine water masses is inferred from findings of Lower Paleogene microplankton and megafossils and palynomorphs of higher plants including Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae, Araliaceae, Loranthaceae, Palmaceae, and members of other thermophilic groups along the Arctic coast. The Early Paleogene climate in this realm was milder and was influenced by currents washing the continent and by marine heat transfer via the Trans-Siberian strait together with the atmospheric heat transfer.     

Plateau archives of lithosphere dynamics,cryosphere and paleoclimate: The formation of Cretaceous desert basins in east Asia

Southeastern Eurasia is a global window to the Cretaceous paleoclimate and lithosphere coupling. China contains one of the most complete and complex sedimentary records of Mesozoic desert basins on planet Earth. In this study, we perform the spatio-temporal tracking of 96 Cretaceous palaeoclimate indicators during 79 Myr which reveal that the plateau paleoclimate archives from East Asia resulted from an Early to Mid-Cretaceous ocean–atmosphere coupling and a shift to a preponderant role of Late Cretaceous lithosphere dynamics and tectonic forcing on high-altitude depositional systems linked to the subduction margins of the Tethys and Paleo-Pacific realms beneath the Eurasian plate. The crustal response to tectonic processes linked with the spatio-temporal evolution of the Tethyan and Paleo-Pacific margins defined the configuration of major sedimentary basins on this region. The significant increase and decrease in the number of active sedimentary basins that occur during the Cretaceous, from 16 in the Early Cretaceous, to 28 in the Mid-Cretaceous, and a decreasing to 20 sedimentary basins in the Late Cretaceous, is a direct response of lithospheric dynamics associated with the two main subduction zones (Tethys and Pacific domains). A shift in subduction style from an Early Cretaceous Paleo-Pacific Plate slab roll back to a Late Cretaceous flat-slab mode might have triggered regional plateau uplift, blocked intraplate volcanism, thus enhancing the denudation and sediment availability, and created wind corridors that led to the construction and accumulation of extensive Late Cretaceous aeolian sandy deserts (ergs) that covered Mid-Cretaceous plateau salars. At the same time, plateau uplift associated with crustal thickening following terrane assembly in the Tethyan margin triggered altitudinal cryospheric processes in sandy desert systems. Evidence of an active Cretaceous cryosphere in China include Valanginian-Hauterivian glacial debris flows, Early Aptian geochemical signature of melt waters from extensive ice sheets, and Cenomanian–Turonian ice-rafted debris (IRD). These cryospheric indicators suggest an already uplifted plateau in southeastern Eurasia during the Cretaceous, and the marked correlation between cold plateau paleoclimate archives and marine records suggests a strong ocean-atmosphere coupling during Early and Mid-Cretaceous cold snaps. We thus conclude that lithospheric tectonics during Cretaceous played a fundamental role in triggering high-altitude basin desertification and spatio-temporal plateau paleohydrology variability in the Cretaceous of south-eastern Eurasia.     

塔里木地块与古亚洲/特提斯构造体系的对接

塔里木盆地为环形山链所环绕,北缘为古亚洲体系的天山弧形山链,南缘为特提斯体系的西昆仑-阿尔金弧形山链。自新元古代晚期以来,塔里木地块及周缘地区经历了古亚洲洋盆和特提斯洋盆的开启、俯冲、闭合以及微陆块多次碰撞造山,发生多期的构造、岩浆及成矿作用。特别是受印度/亚洲碰撞(60~50Ma)以来的近程效应和远程效应影响,使塔里木盆地周缘发生强烈的隆升、缩短及走滑变形,形成了现今复杂的环型造山系,完成了古亚洲体系和特提斯体系与塔里木地块的最终对接。塔里木地块与周缘两大构造体系的焊接是从早古生代开始的。研究表明,早古生代末期塔里木已与西昆仑-阿尔金始特提斯造山系链接一起。此时,塔里木地块东段与中天山增生弧地体碰撞,而西段在晚古生代与中天山增生弧地体碰撞。塔里木盆地周缘早古生代造山系中存在早古生代中期和早古生代晚期的两次造山事件,致使塔里木盆地内映现两个早古生代构造不整合面:晚奥陶世-志留纪之间的角度不整合和中晚泥盆世与早古生代之间的角度不整合。塔里木盆地早古生代的古地理、古环境和古构造研究表明,塔里木早古生代台地位于盆地的中西部,盆地东部为陆缘斜坡和深海/半深海沉积盆地,与南天山早古生代被动陆缘链接。印度/亚洲碰撞导致塔里木盆地西南缘的喜马拉雅西构造结的形成与不断推进,使特提斯构造体系与古亚洲构造体系在西构造结处靠拢及对接,终使塔里木盆地最后定型。     

Significance of indigenous Eocene larger foraminifera Discocyclina dispansa in Western Foothills,Central Taiwan: A Paleogene marine rift basin in Chinese continental margin

The Western Foothills of Taiwan was known to be composed of Late Oligocene to Pleistocene shallow marine strata continuously deposited on the stable passive Chinese continental margin without significant stratigraphic break. Here we present multiple micropaleontological evidences, including occurrence of larger foraminifera Discocyclina dispansa ex. interc. sella-dispansa and calcareous nannoplanktons, to show that there are Middle Eocene marine strata (first named as the Chungliao Formation) exposed in the Tsukeng anticline of the Western Foothills, central Taiwan. Occurrences of intact tests with thin delicate outer rims and well-preserved embryonic chambers suggest that the Discocyclina dispansa ex. interc. sella-dispansa (Lutetian to Bartonian in the Tethys region) are buried indigenously on shallow inner shelf during an episodic transgression in the Early Middle Eocene. The conclusion is consistent with a biostratigraphy study of calcareous nannoplanktons (Zones NP14–15) in the shale/sandstone alternations overlying the Discocyclina-bearing bed of the Chungliao Formation and calcareous nannofossils of Zone NP16 integrated with an age dating of 38.8 ± 1 Ma (Late Middle Eocene) on zircon grains of the overlying Pinglin Tuff. The Middle Eocene syn-rift sequences (Chungliao Formation and Pinglin Tuff) exposed along the Tsukeng anticline are unconformably covered by the latest Oligocene–Miocene post-rift sequence, a scenario similar to what have been drilled in the East China Sea-Taiwan Strait-South China Sea. This rift basin (named as the Nantou Basin) is sitting on the Peikang Basement High margin which further extends southwestward to the Central Uplift of the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the northern slope of the South China Sea. The present work documents a hitherto unknown occurrence of the exposed early Tertiary marine rift basin sequence in the Western Foothills of Taiwan. The study extends our knowledge of the Western Foothills geohistory from the Late Oligocene downward to the Early Middle Eocene. The occurrence of the Paleogene Nantou rift basin in the Western Foothills may also suggest that there could have similar Paleogene rift sequences exposed in other parts of the Taiwan mountain belt like the Hsüehshan Range and the Central Range east of the Western Foothills.     

Deep structure of the South Kara sedimentary basin

The structure and evolution of the passive continental margins of the Arctic Ocean are considered on the example of the South Kara Basin. Its development is associated with the evolution of the West Siberian Plate and the formation of the Arctic Ocean. Until the Late Cretaceous, the South Kara Basin was the north margin of the West Siberian Plate, whose formation is related to the Permian–Triassic processes of riftogenesis accompanied by the eruptions of traps. In the Mesozoic, due to the opening of the Arctic Ocean, the South Kara basin became a part of the continental margin, where the accumulation of marine sandy–clayey rocks continued.     

华夏植物群及其与全球同期植物群的比较

文中研究的焦点是华夏植物群及其与全球同期植物群的比较 ,并论证了石炭纪和二叠纪的古植物地理再造。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,华夏植物区和欧美植物区皆位于具热带气候的赤道区 ,在类似的气候条件下 ,这两个地区的一些植物具有形态上的相似性。此外 ,华夏植物群含有一些与欧美植物群共有的分子 ;因此 ,这两个植物群的关系比较密切。尽管华夏植物群具有相当数量的分子是与欧美植物群所共有的 ,但是在大羽羊齿类植物中 ,在种级上两者并没有相同的成分。华夏植物群是以热带雨林气候为特征。在二叠纪 ,华夏区的气候比欧美区的气候更为湿润。华夏植物群的分子不同于安加拉植物群的分子 ;此外 ,安加拉植物群代表了温带气候条件。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,冈瓦纳植物群分布在南半球高纬度地区 ,不同于分布于北半球低纬度的华夏植物群的组成分子 ;因此 ,这两个植物群没有必然联系。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,在北半球华夏植物群与欧美植物群的一些植物在形态上的相似性以及在南半球 (西藏、沙特阿拉伯、土耳其、新几内亚和伊拉克 )一些华夏型分子的分布可以是起因于类似的气候条件、大陆位置、板块运动、洋流作用、古地理环境等因素的影响。华夏植物群与其同期植物群的差异反映了植物群成分、古气候、古地理位置和陆地生态系在时?     

中国西北甘肃地区华夏和安加拉混生植物群形成机制研究

系统总结了我国西北甘肃地区晚二叠世华夏和安加拉混生植物群的研究现状和研究进展,讨论了华夏和安加拉混生植物群的形成机制。早二叠世,塔里木板块和华北板块向西北运移,与此同时,哈萨克斯坦板块和西伯利亚板块向东南漂移。中二叠世,华夏古陆沿天山、阴山和大兴安岭一线与西伯利亚古陆碰撞导致古海洋闭合和山脉隆升,板块的碰撞为华夏植物群和安加拉植物群两者之间提供了"混生"的条件。来自这两个植物群的少数混生分子出现在本区的中二叠世晚期。晚二叠世,由于塔里木板块和华北板块与哈萨克斯坦板块和西伯利亚板块碰撞与联合,从而使华夏古陆和安加拉古陆对接,形成了华夏和安加拉混生植物群。华夏和安加拉混生植物群的分布模式可以归于陆地生态系统的板块运动、气候分异、环境变化、植物迁移和植物自身演化的结果。     

Geodynamic setting of recent volcanism in North Eurasia

A GIS layout of the map of recent volcanism in North Eurasia is used to estimate the geodynamic setting of this volcanism. The fields of recent volcanic activity surround the Russian and Siberian platforms—the largest ancient tectonic blocks of Eurasia—from the arctic part of North Eurasia to the Russian Northeast and Far East and then via Central Asia to the Caucasus and West Europe. Asymmetry in the spatial distribution of recent volcanics of North Eurasia is emphasized by compositional variations and corresponding geodynamic settings. Recent volcanic rocks in the arctic part of North Eurasia comprise the within-plate alkaline and subalkaline basic rocks on the islands of the Arctic Ocean and tholeiitic basalts of the mid-ocean Gakkel Ridge. The southern, eastern, and western volcanic fields are characterized by a combination of within-plate alkaline and subalkaline basic rocks, including carbonatites in Afghanistan, and island-arc or collision basalt-andesite-rhyolite associations. The spatial distribution of recent volcanism is controlled by the thermal state of the mantle beneath North Eurasia. The enormous mass of the oceanic lithosphere was subducted during the formation of the Pangea supercontinent primarily beneath Eurasia (cold superplume) and cooled its mantle, having retained the North Pangea supercontinent almost unchanged for 200 Ma. Volcanic activity was related to the development of various shallow-seated geodynamic settings and deep-seated within-plate processes. Within-plate volcanism in eastern and southern North Eurasia is controlled, as a rule, by upper mantle plumes, which appeared in zones of convergence of lithospheric plates in connection with ascending hot flows compensating submergence of cold lithospheric slabs. After the breakdown of Pangea, which affected the northern hemisphere of the Earth insignificantly, marine basins with oceanic crust started to form in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic in response to the subsequent breakdown of the supercontinent in the northern hemisphere. In our opinion, the young Arctic Ocean that arose before the growth of the Gakkel Ridge and, probably, the oceanic portion of the Amerasia Basin should be regarded as a typical intracontinental basin within the supercontinent [48]. Most likely, this basin was formed under the effect of mantle plumes in the course of their propagation (expansion, after Yu.M. Pushcharovsky) to the north of the Central Atlantic, including an inferred plume of the North Pole (HALIP).     

Gondwanaland origin, dispersion, and accretion of East and Southeast Asian continental terranes

East and Southeast Asia is a complex assembly of allochthonous continental terranes, island arcs, accretionary complexes and small ocean basins. The boundaries between continental terranes are marked by major fault zones or by sutures recognized by the presence of ophiolites, mélanges and accretionary complexes. Stratigraphical, sedimentological, paleobiogeographical and paleomagnetic data suggest that all of the East and Southeast Asian continental terranes were derived directly or indirectly from the Iran-Himalaya-Australia margin of Gondwanaland. The evolution of the terranes is one of rifting from Gondwanaland, northwards drift and amalgamation/accretion to form present day East Asia. Three continental silvers were rifted from the northeast margin of Gondwanaland in the Silurian-Early Devonian (North China, South China, Indochina/East Malaya, Qamdo-Simao and Tarim terranes), Early-Middle Permian (Sibumasu, Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes) and Late Jurassic (West Burma terrane, Woyla terranes). The northwards drift of these terranes was effected by the opening and closing of three successive Tethys oceans, the Paleo-Tethys, Meso-Tethys and Ceno-Tethys. Terrane assembly took place between the Late Paleozoic and Cenozoic, but the precise timings of amalgamation and accretion are still contentious. Amalgamation of South China and Indochina/East Malaya occurred during the Early Carboniferous along the Song Ma Suture to form “Cathaysialand”. Cathaysialand, together with North China, formed a large continental region within the Paleotethys during the Late Carboniferous and Permian. Paleomagnetic data indicate that this continental region was in equatorial to low northern paleolatitudes which is consistent with the tropical Cathaysian flora developed on these terranes. The Tarim terrane (together with the Kunlun, Qaidam and Ala Shan terranes) accreted to Kazakhstan/Siberia in the Permian. This was followed by the suturing of Sibumasu and Qiangtang to Cathaysialand in the Late Permian-Early Triassic, largely closing the Paleo-Tethys. North and South China were amalgamated in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic and finally welded to Laurasia around the same time. The Lhasa terrane accreted to the Sibumasu-Qiangtang terrane in the Late Jurassic and the Kurosegawa terrane of Japan, interpreted to be derived from Australian Gondwanaland, accreted to Japanese Eurasia, also in the Late Jurassic. The West Burma and Woyla terranes drifted northwards during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous as the Ceno-Tethys opened and the Meso-Tethys was destroyed by subduction beneath Eurasia and were accreted to proto-Southeast Asia in the Early to Late Cretaceous. The Southwest Borneo and Semitau terranes amalgamated to each other and accreted to Indochina/East Malaya in the Late Cretaceous and the Hainanese terranes probably accreted to South China sometime in the Cretaceous.